Suspect Arrested After Multiple Crimes In Cecil Co.
NORTH EAST, MD – Maryland State Police located and arrested a man in a Cecil County parking lot last night after he is alleged to have attempted a carjacking at a gas station and an armed robbery at a nearby store.
The suspect is identified as Jason A. Johnson, of no fixed address. After consultation with the Cecil County State’s Attorney’s Office, Johnson has been charged with three counts each of first degree assault, second degree assault and armed robbery, as well as one count of attempted armed carjacking. After a bond hearing before a District Court commissioner, Johnson was held in the Cecil County Detention Center without bail.
At about 7:00 p.m. yesterday, Maryland State Police at the North East Barrack received a call from a concerned citizen who reported a man was in the shopping center parking lot at 75 North East Plaza, who appeared to be looking into vehicles. The responding trooper began looking for the man and was informed by the barrack that an attempted robbery by a man displaying a knife had occurred ten minutes before, at the Walmart in the area. A store employee reported a man came to her register, brandished a knife and said he was robbing the store. The employee ran to another area of the store and the man left. The suspect description matched the description of the suspicious man seen in the parking lot.
Another trooper checked a nearby shopping area and located the man in the 2500-block of Pulaski Highway. While out with the individual, troopers were approached by a woman who said she a man armed with a knife had attempted to carjack her at the gas station in the 2300-block of Pulaski Highway earlier in the evening. When she shut her car door, the man left the area. She provided a similar description of the man troopers now had in custody.
Based on further investigation by troopers from the North East Barrack and investigators from the State Police Criminal Enforcement Division, troopers determined evidence indicated Johnson was involved in the attempted carjacking at the gas station and attempted armed robbery at the store. After a review of the investigation with the state’s attorney’s office, charges were filed. No one was injured in either incident.